Summertime is busy season at Broomfield nonprofit Birds of Prey

Foundation always sees an influx of patients this time of year

By Megan Quinn, Enterprise Staff Writer

Posted:
07/06/2014 06:00:00 AM MDT

How to help

The Birds of Prey Foundation helps rescue and rehabilitate birds such as hawks, eagles, falcons and owls. The organization runs on donations to get through its busiest season, which is typically summertime.

Anyone who finds an injured bird of prey can call 303-460-0674 for information on how to bring the bird to the organization.​

The Birds of Prey Foundation also has a thrift store, and proceeds from purchases go towards the organization.

The Birds of Prey Foundation Thrift Store is at 1355 East South Boulder Road in Louisville.

Sponsors also are being sought for the foundation's annual Fall Migration Celebration and fundraising dinner on Sept. 19. Sponsorship levels run from $500 to $5,000. For more information, go to birds-of-prey.org and click on the Sponsorship tab.

In a nondescript house on a nondescript gravel road in Broomfield, some unusual visitors are chirping, squeaking, squawking and peeping.

The Birds of Prey Foundation's intensive care unit on 104th Street is tucked away from the hustle and bustle of daily life. The organization takes care of all kinds of birds, who are carried into the facility after being hit by cars, fall from their nests, suffer from lead poisoning or escape from predators.

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The Birds of Prey Foundation, which in 2013 brought in 654 injured birds, is on track to care for as many or more birds this year. The organization, which started in 1980, survives on donations, and is hoping for a little help as the busy bird season continues.

"This all runs on donations," said Heidi Bucknam, who started at Birds of Prey as a volunteer in 1989 and is now the executive director.

This time of year is especially busy for the organization. Summertime means many birds are raising their young and emerging from their nests, but those birds are susceptible to injuries or illnesses.

"Every day is different," Bucknam said.

Caring for injured birds is Bucknam's passion, but it's an expensive endeavor. As of mid-June, almost 200 birds had been admitted to the facility, and it can run about $300 to return a bird to the wild, because of the costs of providing medical care, fresh food, incubators and kennels, she said.

In the past year and a half, the organization also has added more sophisticated equipment, such as new anesthesia equipment, which helps the birds but can be expensive, she said.

The organization's operations are hidden on a dirt road near the Carolyn Holmberg Preserve, in order to give the birds a calm and private area where they can recover in peace.

Yet the tucked-away location means the Birds of Prey Foundation isn't always in the front of people's minds. Constant fundraising is key to keeping the organization going, she said.

A quick Google search or contacting Colorado Parks and Wildlife is typically how people find their way to the facility each day to drop off injured animals, she said.

Kestrels, owls, hawks and even bald eagles rest at the facility's indoor ICU before they are moved to a larger outdoor aviary, where they can stretch their wings and recover more fully before being released back into the wild.

On Tuesday, an employee from Colorado Parks and Wildlife walked into the ICU with an injured kestrel. Bucknam gently put the bird on a towel and felt the injured bird's swollen joint to see what was wrong.

After seeing the bird had a broken elbow, she asked an employee to put the bird in a quiet, dark room so it could lower its stress level before staff began tending to the injury.

As the bird rested in a quieter location, employee Andrea Lutz sat down at a counter and started to feed a flammulated owl that was recovering at the facility. She used a long, tweezer-like apparatus to feed the bird bits of raw mouse.

Mice and other small animals are common meals for these birds of prey, Lutz said.

Feeding and caring for the injured birds is a daily task. On a busy summer day, the Birds of Prey Foundation might have as many as 40 birds recovering in the little house that serves as its ICU.

In one room, a few small pygmy nuthatches recovered after a tree where they lived was chopped down. In another room, stacks of kennels served as temporary homes for injured kestrels, barn owls and red-tailed hawks.

As the birds recover, they can move to a near aviary, a large, tall enclosure where they can stretch their wings as they continue to regain their strength. There are about 140 birds in the outdoor aviary, Bucknam said.

"Our ultimate goal is release" into the wild, she said.

Julia Wynne, a staff member at the Birds of Prey Foundation, said employees always check on the birds in the enclosures to make sure they are flying well and eating well.

When a bird is strong enough to be released back into the wild, it is taken to a suitable area within 10 miles of where it was originally found.

Yet some birds don't leave the aviary, Wynne said.

Some birds are too injured to leave, such as one of the aviary's bald eagles, Adam, who spends his day perched in the corner of one of the large, tall outdoor enclosures.

Some birds have grown accustomed to humans and cannot go back to the wild.

One of those, a turkey vulture named Chuck, is a calm and friendly bird who visits classrooms or special events as a way to teach the public about the animals.

Some of the aviary buildings were damaged in the September floods, but Wynne said several have been renovated or repaired since then.

Donations from the public help keep the facility running smoothly in order to give the birds the best experience they can have during their recovery.